Student Spotlight 2017

Welcome to our Student Spotlight area. We have many talented students in our school so we decided to dedicate this part of our website to telling you all about the talents/achievements of some of these students.

October 2017 Eddie Towell

Eddie Towell is a 6th year student. Over the past number of years Eddie has been involved in a project with his youth club “Just Ask D7” where a number of members go to Morocco and work with street children.

In order to go on the trips they had to do interviews and fundraise the costs. Eddie organised a number of fundraisers in school as well as a number of community projects with the club such as cleaning up the local school playgrounds.

While out in Morocco Eddie was involved in repairing the youth centre, providing new equipment as well as clothes and shoes for the children, bringing them on day trips, organising activities and games for the children during the day.

In the summer months Eddie is involved in voluntary work with his youth club organising summer camps with local children in the Dublin 7 area as well as helping to clean up local parks.

Eddie also played football for the school and is always willing to give a helping hand to teachers and fellow students.

The work with his youth club has had a huge impact on Eddie
“The impact this Morocco trip has on me is that I understand how much I really have in life and that I should be grateful for who and what I have, it also showed me what career I want in the future and that career is youth work. It changed my views of what I have in life”]

Eddie is an example of a student who is contributing positively not only to his local community but also disadvantaged communities in Africa.

May - Morgan Rafferty (update - Student of the year)

Morgan is our third student under the "Spotlight". Have a look at what she has achieved.

European Parliament 2017 – One of 24 LCA students from all over the country who won the Micheal Sweetman Trust competition, based on their Social Education tasks. She represented Ireland at Euroscola in Strasbourg where she debated social subjects in the European Parliament.

Gaisce Medals - achieved a bronze and silver.

President's speech - delivered the President's speech at an awards night in Farmleigh House in December 2016 and chosen to volunteer at the annual President's tea party in Áras an Uachtaráin where she met President Michael D Higgins.

Junk couture in the 3 Arena - won best performance. Her costume which was made from recycled material, tobacco packets, collected from people in the community and picked up from litter in the local area took her 3 months to make. Finalist in 2017. (See Photo Galleries Below)

Public Speaking - In 2015 addressed the Cyber Bullying Conference in Dublin Castle and also spoke on radio and in the Mansion house in Dublin about Dyslexia and the Arts.

Larkin Scholar Programme (Sponsored by the Lions Club) - one of 12 students in Larkin College to be picked to be mentored by staff in Irish Life. Her mentor gave her great advice and loads of contacts when applying for work experience and also helped with preparation for job interviews.

Work experience placements - with Localise and the Irish Wheelchair Association. “I hope to go on and be a Localise volunteer in the future.”

“When I leave Larkin College I will look back on my time in school with gratitude for the experiences I have gained which will hopefully set me on the path to college and enable me to give back something to society. I have been given many opportunities in Larkin College for which I am very grateful.” Morgan

Update - Morgan won a number of prizes on awards day on 1st of June but the most prestigious one was "The student the year". She had the privilege of being presented this by James Larkin's granddaughter Stella McConnon. Well done Morgan!

April - Jessica Ziu - Irish Soccer Team

Jessica is an excellent student with exceptional academic and sporting achievements. Jessica first started in Larkin on our football scholarship programme travelling in from Finglas. As a young girl she took an interest in football and played with the boys. When she was 12 she joined Shelbourne FC. Jessica’s football skills have developed incredibly over the years resulting in her being picked to play for the Leinster U/15 squad at the age of 12. Jessica continued her success by being promoted from the Leinster football squad on to the Irish International team at only 14 and now at the age of 15 she continues to play for Ireland.

Recently, Jessica won the Irish league with her club, Shelbourne girls, and she scored the winning goal.

Over the Easter holidays Jessica played for Ireland, representing Larkin CC, against England, Scotland and Wales.

Jessica is also on the Larkin girls U/15 and U/17 school team, to date she has played in Leinster Cup and League finals with the school.

Football is only one of Jessica’s many talents; she represents the school in a range of sporting activities such as, Badminton, Basketball, Gaelic Football, Rock Climbing, Cross Country and Athletics.

UPDATE: Today, 27/04/17, Jessica is flying to Prague to take part in the UEFA European Championships with the u/17 national team. They will face England, Netherlands and Norway in Group B, with the eight best teams in Europe competing in the finals competition.

The first student we would like to tell you about is Alexandru(Alex) Rusu. Alex is a fine young man in second year who is liked by all who know him. He does many great things in his life but he would like us to just focus on his art.

At the age of ten Alex liked drawing but, as he says himself, when he went to draw people all he could do was match stick men. His mother thought it was time for him to learn to draw a bit better so she enrolled him in some basic level art classes. This was a major turning point in his life as he developed a love for doing various forms of drawing and painting. He studies art for the Junior Cert and is now doing advanced art classes every weekend.

Alex is now fourteen so it is only four years since his first basic art class. Click onto the three galleries below to see a sample of the work he has done.